Hooped Up

Derrick Rose is going home, and a record crowd of freshmen are following him to the NBA. The Chicago Bulls selected Rose, who grew up on the city’s South Side, with the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft Thursday night, choosing the Memphis guard over Kansas State forward Michael Beasley.  Below are the rest of the NBA draft results.

Round 1 NBA Draft Results

Second round results after the jump Read the rest of this entry »

Team USA is official and here are the members selected by the USA basketball comitee.

Carmelo Anthony
Carlos Boozer
Chris Bosh
Kobe Bryant
Dwight Howard
LeBron James
Jason Kidd
Chris Paul
Tayshaun Prince
Michael Redd
Dwayne Wade
Deron Williams

This is an awesome squad but, who is going to take a back seat to who and who leads this team?

The Brazilian power forward and energy man might be on his way to Golden State.

One possible destination for Varejao is the Golden State Warriors. According to a source familiar with the talks, the Cavs would send Varejao and the No. 19 pick to Golden State for Brandan Wright. The Warriors hold a $10 million trade exception that allows them to take back a lot more money than they send out in a trade.

ESPN.com

After months of paying attention to 4th quarters and cursing the Knicks for existing…again! The most holiest of times are upon us my friends. Here are my predictions for the first round. Now I could use my crystal ball to also predict how many games each of these match ups will go but, I left my crystal ball in the Thunder Tank.

Round 1
Western Conference
Lakers vs. Nuggests - Lakers
Jazz vs. Rockets - Rockets
Spurs vs. Suns - Suns
Hornets vs. Mavericks - Mavericks

Eastern Conference
Celtics vs. Hawks - Celtics
Cavaliers vs. Wizards - Cavaliers
Magic vs. Raptors - Magic
Pistons vs. 76ers - Pistons

The word ‘’sprain” was used to describe the injury Sasha Pavlovic suffered back in January, but that didn’t mean it was minor.

There was a period when the Cavaliers’ team doctors feared that the mid-foot injury might have wiped out his season. The point being, just having him back on the court is its own success story. Nonetheless, Pavlovic couldn’t have been more aggressive in his desire to get back to the team as fast as possible.

The reason is simple: competition. Pavlovic might not directly admit it, but he and the other guards on the Cavs’ roster know there is probably going to be an odd man out come the playoffs, and none of them want to be that man. Which is why Pavlovic returned ahead of schedule from his foot injury last week and has quickly found a rhythm in the starting lineup.

Akron Beacon Journal

The new cover of Vogue magazine features basketball superstar LeBron James and fashion supermodel Gisele Bundchen. The two are on the cover of the April issue of the fashion magazine.

It is only the third time ever a man has graced the cover of the magazine. The other two being George Clooney and Richard Gere.

I guess Tom Brady got the ax from the shoot after the New England Patriots lost to the New York Giants in the Super Bowl.

In a blockbuster, three-way trade involving Cleveland, Chicago, Seattle and including 11 players, the Cavaliers acquired center Ben Wallace from the Bulls and forward Wally Szczerbiak from the SuperSonics, two players to possibly get James and the Cavs through the Eastern Conference and back to the finals.

Cleveland general manager Danny Ferry, unable to finalize major deals in the past, pulled off a colossal one in the final hours before Thursday’s 3 p.m. deadline.

The Cavaliers sent guard Larry Hughes, forwards Drew Gooden and Cedric Simmons, and guard Shannon Brown to Chicago for Wallace, one of the game’s top inside enforcers, and forward Joe Smith.

Cleveland acquired the sharpshooting Szczerbiak and guard Delonte West from Seattle for forwards Ira Newble and Donyell Marshall.

The Cavaliers will also get Chicago’s second-round pick in 2009. The SuperSonics will receive guard Adrian Griffin from the Bulls.

SI

[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=_yT_sp2B8Eg]

LeBron James threw down a powerful dunk for the go-ahead basket with 55 seconds left, helping the East beat the West 134-128 on Sunday night in the All-Star game, as reported by the Associated Press.

James finished with 27 points, nine assists and eight rebounds in capturing his second MVP award in the last three years.

This time, the East blew the big lead, with the West rallying from 16 points down to grab a fourth-quarter lead. But with the game tied at 125, James dribbled the length of the court before soaring for a dunk that put the East back on top for good.